Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Jul 22, 2012 3:50:00 GMT -5
Rich had cleaned up the closet pretty well. He'd put the cleaning supplies outside and cleaned up the ground well enough. Now he just had to spread the cardboard boxes about. Cleaning and prepping was pretty easy when you could just toss useless sh*t aside when he thought about it.
When Anna had came back upfront, she'd brought a bag over her shoulder along with blankets and toilet paper rolls in her arms. "Look what I found! Just...take the ones I'm not bleeding on," she told him.
Rich helped her out and together they set up a nice little home away from home. As they layed down upon their recycled cardboard mattress, and put their heads upon their toliet paper pillows, they really had a chance to appreciate all they had.
Richard reached over and grabbed his wife's hand and squeezed it tight. "I miss Aryn and Jimmy."
Anna frowned at him and sighed, looking at their hands clasped together. "I do too...did you see her leave or...?"
"Kylie said she saw her leave the parking garage. I didn't see Jimmy, but Chase was with him so..."
"The Lieutenant also had a broken arm and no weapon," she responded, worriedly.
Rich pulled Anna into his arms. "They're fine, I know they are. Chase got out of the mall with a broken arm, I'm sure he got Jimmy out fine."
"Yeah...you're right. I just hope he doesn't catch a fever or anything while he's without medical attention...Aryn'll get all bent out of shape if that happens and I'm sure she's already worried about us," she mentioned, curling up against him.
Rich nuzzled his head against his wife's hair. "They'll be fine. They're our kids, they die hard." He kissed his wife's head.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 22, 2012 4:24:00 GMT -5
Anna nodded a little and pulled her head out from under her husband's chin just to look at him. "I love you, Richard." she told him, lowly. "I don't think I could have come this far if it wasn't for you."
Rich smiled sheepishly. "I love you too. I just... ya know..." he trailed off sadly.
She smiled back and rubbed her head into his chest, affectionately. "You handled everything at the SPD well. You saved Jimmy and did your best keeping Aryn safe. We're all alive...just separated," she assured him.
"Lake Trinity, the mall, the SPD... I don't know, maybe I messed up somewhere. I mean people looked up to me for leadership. What do I know about leading anything?" He closed his eyes and grumbled a bit, trying to get to sleep.
"You knew enough to keep that camp alive for more than a year. You single handedly kept morale up, you gave them all something to believe in, Rich. They lived longer than most people did when this started because of you," she told him, hugging him tighter.
"Besides, two out of three of those happened because of Crowley and Crowley happened because of me. So if anyone's to be blamed for the Mall and the SPD, it's probably Crowley," she joked, half-heartedly.
"Man, f*ck that b*tch..." Rich grumbled as he started to drift off.
Anna finally closed her eyes and breathed out a little. "She'd dead now..so...she won't...be a problem...anymore..." she said, yawning. Didn't take long until the couple had drifted off to sleep for the night.
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Jul 22, 2012 5:03:55 GMT -5
Dawn came.
Richard woke up before his wife did, and, feeling refreshed, decided to scope out the place a bit. His leg was still sore, and as he moved he plucked pieces of glass out of his hand. There wasn't much to see that Anna hadn't already confiscated, though he did find a pen and some paper. Back at Trinity, he didn't have much free time, and when he did he spent it with his family. Unfortunately, his old sketches of Aryn, Jimmy, and Anna were gone now, so he'd have to make some more.
Sitting back down next to a still snoozing Anna, he started up on sketching his wife's sleeping form.
After awhile, she'd began to stir and before long, opened her eyes partially. Looking over at him, she'd blinked slowly, trying to wake up probably.
"...Mornin'...." she yawned.
"Morning," Rich responded in kind as he finished up his sketch.
"You're drawing again? Can I see?" she asked, sitting up in their makeshift bed.
"No way, I'm not finished yet," he said, pulling the draw up to his chest and away from her. She'd began to whimper and whine, falling back into the blankets and wrapping herself up. "Fine...f*ck you then..." she muttered, looking over at the backpack she'd found last night.
"Not really, but ya know..." she said after, reaching for the bag to shuffle through.
"So what happened to you after we seperated at the station," Rich asked while working on some of her recent cuts in the drawing.
His wife had began to pull items out of the bag, setting them aside of her. "Uh...well, I went to look for our daughter, found Crowley walking down the hall, followed, saw her and some assh*le grabbing Aryn...we got into a gunfight...got shot at and then chased her upto the roof..." she trailed off, scoffing.
"So how'd you end up at the carnival?"
Anna began to fiddle with the zippers on the bag, nervously. "Oh, you know...chopper...sorta...crashed."
"So does the B.S.A.A. have to notify the next of kin whenever you get assigned a pilot or...?"
"Ha-ha-ha...Not that I know of. I mean, I've heard alot of insurance jokes made about me though," she said, grimly.
"Seriously though, how'd the chopper crash this time? Flock of seagulls? Sunspots?" Rich joked.
Anna looked up momentarily, almost embarassed. "Actually, this time was kind of my fault. I attacked the pilot, the pilot being Crowley, with the intent of crashing us both."
"That's gonna hurt your premiums," he joked before turning the drawing around. "Whatcha think?"
Anna looked over the sketch and smiled, noticing the intricate details on her face. "It looks good, you're getting alot better," she complimented before suddenly frowning. "Does my face look that rough right now?" she asked, touching at one of her latest injuries and wincing.
"Naw, it's just some minor scrapes and such. All we need is some alcohol to clean and disinfect them. I'm pretty messed up too," Rich added, gesturing to the damage he got escaping the parking garage.
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 22, 2012 5:25:26 GMT -5
Anna grinned, pulling a large bottle out of the bag. "Say no more, found a bottle of Absolut, we can either party hard or disinfect our injuries, prolly have enough for both, actually," she said, uncapping the vodka bottle.
"If Chase were here, we'd have a designated driver. Then we'd be good to go," Rich commented as he scooched over, next to his wife. "Why hello nurse."
Anna began to unroll a little of the toilet paper around her fingers and doused it in some of the vodka. "Oh, Mr. Holden, it's time to take your temperature, you better take ALL your clothes off," she said, trying her best to hold a straight face.
Rich stiffled a giggle and took his tank top off.
=======================================================================
A little while after, Anna and Rich had managed to patch themselves up well enough to a more comfortable state. She'd been packing a few things she'd found in the station, away in the backpack she'd found and slung it over her shoulder.
"Alright, everything's packed up, ready to go. You ready, Rich?" she asked, looking over at him.
Rich checked the shotgun Anna pointed him at earlier before saying, "Mhhmm, lets hit the trail."
Anna nodded and started over to the gas station door, shoving the shelf down onto the ground effortlessly. "Heh heh heh...."
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Jul 22, 2012 6:24:29 GMT -5
As Rich and Anna threw their last few things in the back seat of their vehicle, the two of them heard a noise. Turning up, they looked in it's direction. The sound came again, clearer this time.
"Barking," Rich said lowly.
"B*tches..." Anna growled before chuckling.
"Anna! Come on, get in the car get in the car!" Rich said hurriedly climbing into the car and getting to work hotwiring it again. Anna ran around to her side before stepping over the door, frowning. "Rich, I don't have a door!" she shouted.
"I know, f*ck! Ow!" Rich swore, shocking himself. "Come on, come on..."
Nearby in the woods, a pack of three dogs ran out, barking and growling like the wild, undead beasts they were.
Meanwhile, Anna had reached for the door, straining herself as she'd pulled the heavy door up to the doorframe and pulling it on. She held onto it tightly, cringing at the stinging pain in her side.
"Alright, alright, I've got it," Rich said, pulling himself up, resting his feet on the pedals, and putting the car in gear.
"Great! Let's get the fff-ff-f--DOG!" she yelled, staring at the faceless canine slamming it's large, lean, body against her door, forcing her to drop it. Luckily, it landed atop of the canine, but the others were running full tilt at the car. "GO! GO! GO!"
"GOING!" Rich yelled as he slammed his foot on the gas, causing the car to speed up and forward. He turned quickly avoiding the gas station and got back on the road and away to safety.
"Whew, oh holy sh*t, that was a close one huh? Hey Anna, be a doll and get me some jerky will ya? Ha ha, phew..." Rich laughed, shaking off the adrenaline.
Anna had been pressing her back and arms back into the seat, pinning herself into it. Her face was pale and distraught. Rich looked over at her and grabbed her shoulder.
"Hey, Anna, you alright?"
She'd stared forward, unblinking for a moment. "Oh, yeah, I'm just peachy, except the part where I think I p*ssed myself." she said, shakily.
Rich alternated smiling at her and keeping his eyes on the road before saying, "Come on darling, it's alright. Those b*tches are behind us now, it's alright. Its. All. Right. Come on cheer up."
"I'm afraid to reach for my seatbelt," she said.
Rich looked a little nervous then and kept alternating glances at the road and his wife. "Come on, I'll slow down a bit, you just put your belt on, come on, its alright," Rich said, slowing the car down to a less life threatening speed.
She'd quickly grabbed at her belt, strapped it on and managed to relax a little. "Damn...how the hell did I not fall out with that tight ass turn?"
"The same way you don't fall out of your own tight ass?" Rich said grinning.
"What's that s'pose to mean?" Anna asked, squinting an eye and smirking.
"You know what it means," Rich shot back.
"Yeah, I kinda figured as much. In the meantime, here's that jerky ya wanted," she said, passing him a newly opened pack.
"Thanks," Rich said, as he started scarfing down meat like potato chips. "Breakfast of champions."
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Post by NotAvailable on Jul 22, 2012 7:14:47 GMT -5
Anna had scooted closer toward the driver's side, looking out of the door-less frame on her side. She'd held onto her side a little and looked down at it, feeling dampness. Lifting her hand up a little, she'd frowned.
"Hey Rich, my cut's bleeding through again, I strained it earlier...can we like...find some better gauze soon..?" she asked.
"Yeah, we'll check out the next place we find. Might be a while though, this being a mountain range and all." He looked over at her and added, "Why don't you put some TP on it or something, ya know, until we find something better."
"I did, this morning, it's bleeding through. I mean, I'll be fine, it's just a gash, it isn't really deep, but ya know...it hurts," she told him, clutching her side. Looking around at their surroundings, she'd recognized the trail and the signs.
"We're by Lucy's memorial..." she said, lowly.
"You wanna go say hi?" Rich asked, grabbing Anna and pulling her closer. She'd felt the pit of her stomach ache and tremble when he'd asked. Did she want to see it? She wasn't sure how she'd take it but...she hadn't seen it in so long not since she'd died.
They were pulling in closer to the memorial now, the same old, broken down pick-up truck that had been there since, had been within sight.
"I...yeah, I'd like to see her," she finally responded.
Their old white compact car pulled up onto the side of the road. Rich turned the car off and opened his door. "Come on, I'm here," he told her.
Anna nodded and climbed out of the car, standing on the road for a moment. She'd looked on ahead at the grave further ahead. It wasn't much, just some plywood made into a cross that Jake put together back in Trinity. There were some flowers and Aryn's old teddybear lying there, worn and wilting.
She'd felt hesitant and her heart had began to beat faster. She could feel her face flush with grief...she wasn't over it. Lucy was still gone, a thought that hadn't occurred in a long while and that alone, made Anna feel like the worse mother in existence.
Her legs grew heavier and felt a little like jello. "I can't do it. I don't..I don't want to see her."
"Are you sure? It's okay," Rich said. He was holding the shotgun they scavenged, just in case something happened.
Anna swallowed a hard lump that'd formed in her throat, the threat of tears had been imminent. "I miss her. I miss her little face and her little hands and her tiny nose..." she started, taking small steps forward.
"I miss holding her and cradling her...I miss her little voice and....I forgot about all of that for so long. I haven't even given a second goddamn thought about her since...hell, I don't even f*cking remember."
"It's okay Anna, it's okay. Life doesn't stop for us, or for her. Everything thats been happening since, it... it doesn't really give you much time to let anything sink in..." Rich laid his hand on her shoulder.
Anna looked down, rubbing at her eyes. "It shouldn't have continued so soon... she said, quietly. She'd mustered up all of the courage she could and walked carefully over to the grave. She'd looked down at it and knelt before it, grabbing at the old, withered flowers and plucking them away.
" I didn't get to say goodbye to you. Maybe that's why...maybe that's why it's been so hard for me...when you died, you went in your sleep, in my arms and....I never got to say goodbye...just goodnight," she said, through her tears.
She'd straightened up the teddybear, leaning it upright against the wood and smiled warily. "Mama's just gonna fix this up for you...okay? Aryn always loved this plushie but she knew you loved it just as much...I hope it's keeping you company, baby..."
Rich wiped at his eyes a bit and stepped over next to his wife. He pulled out the gun Anna gave him back at the gas station. It was small, had only a bullet left in it. Richard laid it down and threw a handful of dirt over it. "Something to keep you safe darlin'..."
Anna smiled a little, wiping away her tears with the back of her arm and sniffling. "Lucy...I almost forgot to mention...Richard and I got married the other day and...well, I guess you got your daddy, huh?" she said.
There'd been another stretch of silence between them and she'd lowered her head. "I'm sorry I was gone for so long. I'm here now though....I know it's not enough and I can't make things right because you're gone and...I'm sorry....You were always on my mind though, whenever I was gone away for work or busy, I never forgot about you until you were actually gone," she continued.
"That's not an excuse, it's a confession. I guess you know that though..." she trailed off, laying her hand over the center of the cross. "I love you, honey and I'm never gonna forget again."
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Oct 22, 2012 22:35:38 GMT -5
"Come on Anna, Jimmy and Aryn still need us," Rich told her after some time had passed. Anna had wiped tears out of her eyes and sniffled. "Yeah...right...just...gimme a sec...please."
"Anna, we've been here for thirty minutes... you have to let her rest."
"Just wait for me in the f*cking car, then, goddammit!" she snapped, glaring at him.
Rich backed away and went back to the car. "Alright, I'll just, be there if you need me."
Rich sat down in the seat of their vehicle and breathed out. Anna was taking this hard, harder than he was. It's not like he didn't love Lucy, or care about her, or miss her now that she's gone, but...
She was gone. Aryn and Jimmy were still out there, alone and hurt. They needed them right now and Lucy... she was gonna be alright. She was safe now.
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Post by NotAvailable on Oct 22, 2012 22:45:09 GMT -5
Anna waited for Rich to get into the car before lifting her head to face the grave. She'd looked at her baby's name carved into the center of the cross, placing her hand on it for a moment. Rich couldn't understand, she wasn't his child, Aryn was. Lucy was hers and hers alone, all she had was her and Jimmy. There was no father in her life. Rich was there, sure, to fill the hole temporarily, but Lucy knew he wasn't what she wanted him to be. Anna knew that too and together, they shared that pain.
Regardless, she'd felt pretty sh*tty now, having yelled at her husband like he was nothing. If it weren't for him, she'd be lying dead in a helicopter crash or in Tricell's hands. Or something terrible.
Sighing, the agent retracted her hand and buried her face into both of them. "I'm sorry....I'm so sorry....I wasn't there and I'm sorry...." she said inbetween sobs. It was impossible to explain how she'd felt. Everything that she'd been through since the beginning of the outbreak. Everything she'd been through since 1998.
But Rich was right. It was time to let her go. She still had two very much alive children that needed them, that missed them and wanted to be with them....she was still their mother afterall. The mother got upto her feet, clutching at her injured side and taking one last look at the grave.
"Goodbye...Lucy..." she muttered.
After making it back to the car, she'd climbed in through the back seat and plopped down into the passenger side where she'd sunk down into her chair.
"I'm sorry, Richard."
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Ion
Zombie Hunter
[Fine]
Posts: 275
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Post by Ion on Oct 22, 2012 22:51:54 GMT -5
"It's alright. You ready to go?" he asked, looking over at her as they sat in the motionless car. She'd nodded and looked out the window. "Yeah."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, let's go."
Rich started up the engine and put the car into gear before peeling off the curb and back onto the road.
[Rich and Anna have left]
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